Elixir — Restaurant in San Francisco

Love this place so much. I first discovered Elixir when I was visiting SF for TechCrunch Disrupt back in 2013. (I know, a long time ago!) But our friend Mark who lived in the area took us to this gem in his neighborhood, and it was there I got a chance to see just how incredible the whiskey selection was at this place.

After doing a few rounds, the OWNER of the bar came around to check in on us... but he didn't just ask how we were doing as a courtesy; he actually cared about where we were visiting from, what we had done, and if we had been to XYZ place + offered recs and even help making reservations by calling different bar/restaurant owners to help make our already-incredible trip even better. He spent a good 10-15 min with us, educated us on different spirits and mixers we were curious about behind the bar—and then before we left, bought us a round to drink and enjoy one of those spirits we had inquired about with him.

True hospitality. From the owner to the manager to the bartenders and other staff.

Year later, a different friend of mine and I were visiting—so I recommended we check out Elixir. Upon entering, my friend asked if I had ever tried Pappy since he noticed Elixir had the full lineup. Neither my friend and I had, so we marveled at the idea and then pulled the trigger. 🥃 🥃

To my surprise—and I know Pappy is rare, let alone expensive—but when the flight came, the owner and staff recognized me from many years prior, asked how I was, recalled I was last there for that conference, how the rest of it was, and even offered us some incredible stories and education about the history of Pappy as we sipped each year.

My friend and I stayed a lot longer than we had anticipated and the owner and manager even offered us a personalized tasting of rare Wild Turkey bourbons they had in stock if we wanted to come back before we flew home and see how we liked them, especially to compare to the Pappy flight.

Safe to say, we came back and had a wonderful time exploring (and learning!) about different types of whiskey—and the owner, managers, and staff at Elixir really took care of us.

On top of making incredible looking and tasting cocktails, seeing their passion is something I'll always remember and treasure.

Thanks, H, Nick, Shea, Lauren, and team! (And Mark for the original rec!)

Y'all made trips to SF so much fun and educational! Appreciate your passion, craft, and hospitality. 🙏

Until next...

I’ll start by telling you that I have spent my best years behind a bar. Meaning, I don’t type a lot, and I rarely trust reviews. But this seems to be my only vehicle to reach out to that young man that served us a few months ago… I had a great memory of this place form a few years ago= great craft cocktails in a upper dive-ish atmosphere. Relaxed, non-pretentious, with thoughtful cocktails skillfully made. Whats not to like? Cut to about a month ago on a Sunday night(1/24), I brought a small group of 5 friends into the place to get a night-cap. We’re from out of town, and all parents with young children, so we’re talking like 10pm-ish here. We are not (as) rowdy (as I would have liked to be). We don’t “woo” when we come into a bar, and we are not bro-ie. Pretty non-offensive. The guy behind the bar looked at us when we got to the bar, then did a round on the customers sitting at the bar. I get that, get caught up man. He walked by us a few times (in no particular hurry) and never acknowledged us. I’m not looking for a chipper ‘howdy fellas’ but let me know you see us. When he did come to us he was cold and curt. His nonverbal made it clear that he was not happy to see us. We ordered a few drinks, he made half then went to the other end of the bar to help some people and stop for a ‘chat’ with some guy. And as I live and breath, we could have sworn he was talking about us. He then made the other half (minus one drink that he forgot), gave us a total and then went out to the doorway to smoke. We didn’t ask him about it because at that point, he was to annoying to want to engage with. The one thing he did that was good was he made an Old Fashioned without any sweetening agent. The reason this turned out good was my friend found it so bad that I got to finish it for him. I would have had a better experience with less attitude if a Philadelphia TSA agent was serving cocktails. Amigo-you are not a fun person(or weren't that moment) working in a fun industry…that is only charming to that guy you give free drinks to at the end of the bar.

TLDR: Angry smug service, bad service, forgetful service, and the biggest crime *apathetic service. I don’t edit, and read at probably a 8th grade level-...

I've written about this in length in another public review, but the utter disrespect by the doorman to my wife and group on Friday night, 6/14/24 was completely awful. Our local theatre group has been patronizing your establishment for years, as loyal customers, show after show. That stops now. And we will be sure to let everyone know about what happened.

TL;DR - your doorman lied about talking to my wife for "20 minutes" and explaining to her that she was "in no condition to enter." First of all, she was there for all of 2 minutes before he decided to berate her.

Please note that the she's the one who organized the outing for our group and arrived late from a gala event in a ball gown, holding up the train of her dress in one hand, and several bags in the other (in her tiny 5'1" frame while wearing 5" heels).

I had maybe 2 sips of the drink I paid for before heading over to the door to try and calm things down. And then he decides to put his hands on her. I told him not to do that and then he threw derogatory slurs at us IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE GROUP.

Elixr, check your man. You just lost a bunch of business not just for today,...